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Another year down the drain.

Rich102

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,524
Jazz Tevaga admits it is another "year down the drain" for the Warriors.

Sam Lisone feels they are still missing the 'GOAT'.

Agnatius Paasi says the team can "switch off" on game day.

As the Warriors search for answers, with their finals hopes extinguished by back-to-back drubbings from the Roosters and the Sharks, the frank words from some of their younger players are refreshing.

While some of the senior men tend to spin familiar clichés, Tevaga, Lisone and Paasi didn't hold back with their verdicts.

After a positive run in June and July, the Warriors have hit a brick wall this month, conceding more than 40 points in heavy defeats against the Raiders, Roosters and Sharks.

"She's not pretty to watch," said Tevaga. "It's frustrating because we are a better team than that. It's hard to gauge how we train so well and then come out on the field and it is shit, really."

Asked why the team had nose dived over the past fortnight, Tevaga didn't fudge his answer.

"There's lot of things," said Tevaga. "Pressure on us making finals, the care for the jumper — that's gone missing, a bit of enjoyment is missing as well and there's trust issues.

"It's not just one person, it's us collectively. It was tough to find out why. We are not getting our jobs done, not doing the little things. It just compounds, it's an infection. One thing leads to another thing, [the] next thing you know we are two or three tries down and it's like 'shit, here we go again'."

Tevaga, who has featured in 20 games this year despite a persistent ankle problem, is adamant the squad was good enough.

"It's not nice because we worked so hard this year and we are a better team than that," said Tevaga. "We towelled up Manly, who [beat] the Raiders, who smacked us. We just lost in Melbourne, [then] the close games against Penrith and the Broncos (at Mt Smart), the Parra game (at Bankwest).


"It all counts. And it's just like another year down the drain, and all that hard work gone to waste."

The consistent Paasi, who will play his 100th NRL game this week, admits their inability to transfer training ground intensity to the match situation has been frustrating.

"Against the Sharks it felt like it was the same game as the Roosters," said Paasi. "When things got hard we tended to switch off. We have a good training session during the week and then come to game day it's way different."

Paasi hinted that the cumulative pressure of a season where the team has been in dogfights most weeks had taken it's toll.

"Things haven't gone our way," said Paasi. "The wins we have really had to scrap out and the losses hurt us a little bit and it builds and it builds."

"Losing Tohu [Harris] didn't help (the Kiwis forward has been out injured since mid-June). He is one of the leaders and builds his game on defence. We really get a boost off him when he is there."

For his part, Lisone lamented the absence of 301-game Warriors legend Simon Mannering.

"What's changed? We are missing the GOAT [Mannering]," said Lisone. "You don't know how good he was. All the little things and his leadership especially. Probably in the middle we haven't been as good, we have been struggling there a bit."

But all insist the squad is motivated to end the campaign on a high, starting with Friday's match with the Rabbitohs.

"We want to finish the year off well," said Lisone. "If you lose, you have that bitter taste for the whole break and you start pre-season on a low."

Though the Warriors haven't enjoyed much success against South Sydney, with last season's win in Perth their first over the Rabbitohs since 2012, Lisone has some happy personal memories.

He broke a 63-game NRL try scoring duck when he busted through in round one last year, then got his second career touchdown in the 28-24 defeat in Gosford earlier this season.

"My first try against them, [my] first try this year, some nice memories," said Lisone. "Hopefully I get one, or put my roomie Iggy [Paasi] in for one, for his big game."

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/league/news/article.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=12263122
 

Meth

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
34,475
"What's changed? We are missing the GOAT [Mannering]," said Lisone. "You don't know how good he was. All the little things and his leadership especially. Probably in the middle we haven't been as good, we have been struggling there a bit."

Good comment.

Again, this raises a massive frustration for me- Blair's continual selection on the edge. We're missing strength in the middle. We're short a 4th prop. We need leadership in the middle- which, supposedly he brings. His best games with his best workrate have been in the middle.

So why is he playing on the edge?
 

spear tackle

Juniors
Messages
1,176
Good comment.

Again, this raises a massive frustration for me- Blair's continual selection on the edge. We're missing strength in the middle. We're short a 4th prop. We need leadership in the middle- which, supposedly he brings. His best games with his best workrate have been in the middle.

So why is he playing on the edge?

"Process"
 

Blair

Coach
Messages
10,082
Time for a new process.

And a new 'princess'. We need some flair, the confidnce to off-load (at the right time), some genuine pace in the backs, quick halves, some tackle-breakers, a backrower who could easily play in the centres (a sign of a pretty dangerous player).

Nothing too fancy, we can't expect 2003 again. Just enough to get excited about, I'm quite bored with our team at the moment.
 
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Penrose Warrior

First Grade
Messages
8,602
Ugh, such a shit article to read. Frustrating as hell.

They're missing the 'GOAT' because he brought the intangibles - heart, determination, care for the jersey, the never give up spirit. Things that don't need to be coached and anyone can achieve. Anyone can tackle like Mannering. His fitness levels are up the top as well but again that's nothing hard training can't achieve. Then you have Adam Blair, who did that the Storm a lot of time - but can't be f**ked now. Happy to take his cheque.

If I was a good CEO (not Cameron George) I'd tell everyone in the squad to shut up about the 'the care for the jersey' stuff. That shits on fans. It hurts. We hear it way too much. No excuses, publicly or privately. Just tell the media it's not good enough and we're working on it. Then be better.
 

JJ

Immortal
Messages
31,738
The old "but we're hitting them well in the nets" line...

The front office is shit, the coaching is shit, the squad is ordinary and unbalanced... end of
 

Leber

Bench
Messages
3,682
Mannering will prob win a premiership coaching the broncos girls and will lament wasting so many years of his life at our shit club.
 

WellsNZ

Juniors
Messages
903
Good to see the loss of Mannering actually getting acknowledged at least. It was all no SJ no SJ no SJ. But they lost the heart of the club at the same time and nobody ever talked about it.

f**k the rest of this shit though.
 

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